Spiritual Gifts of 2009

At the close of each year, we meet with the Johnson family and share "Spiritual Gifts" that we have received during that year.

Temple Lights

After the Christmas craziness was over, we decided to go see the lights at the temple.

The boys had fun with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Rob, Aunt Jami & of course little baby Olivia.

They just can't seem to get enough of her!

Back at the car, we enjoyed our thermos hot chocolate!

4 Peaks Ride

The day after Christmas, we all went on a ride through the desert.

We took turns driving the babies in the Ranger.

Beautiful country,

hardly any dust due to recent rains,

and blue skies made for a fun day.

the Day...

Marcus found Santa's Leftovers

We opened presents at home,

then went to the Martinsen's to open some more,



and to visit Great Grandma too of course.

Next stop: the Greats! (Grandma & Grandpa Heap)

Then, over to the Johnson's for fun with the cousins and playing Christmas songs with the bells.

One more trip back over to the Martinsen's to play some games with the adult children before calling it a day! Yes, we were tired!

the Eve...

Started off the evening with a candlelit appetizer dinner:

gyoza, ribs, cheeseball, , jalapeno poppers, Martinelli's, veggies & dip, to name a few.

Then we got into our Christmas jammies to read from Luke 2.

Had to cut the feet from Marcus's jammies to accommodate the cast.

Christmas Eve is great!

It's the only night of the year that the boys beg to get into bed.

Marcus got an early Christmas present this year.

His little foot was fractured from jumping on the trampoline.

Poor little guy has to have a cast for 3 weeks.

His brothers and I decided on a green one as Christmas is this weekend.

Here is is the next day sitting next to the trampoline.

He can't seem to understand why I won't let him back on.

Charlie Brown?

Real Christmas trees are great.

We decided that this year we would chop one down ourselves.

Haven't done that for years.

Because of the heavy snowfall, many of the roads into the "good" trees were closed. So, we settled for a Ponderosa Pine! Ryan was sure people were pointing and laughing at us as we drove down the mountain with a Ponderosa in the back of the truck. I think it's awesome. Looks like a giant Charlie Brown tree.

Gettin' Ready

We're drinking lots of cocoa,

making lots of threats ("Santa doesn't bring presents to Naughty boys"),

and

putting up the Christmas decor.